Students, grads to run HYCC pro shop

Thursday

Visitors to the Hyannis Youth and Community Center may have noticed signs in the windows of a room adjacent to the lobby boasting, "Pro Shop – Coming Soon."

Visitors to the Hyannis Youth and Community Center may have noticed signs in the windows of a room adjacent to the lobby boasting, “Pro Shop – Coming Soon.”

In fact, the new HYCC pro shop will be opening for business Jan. 22, with a grand opening celebration planned for Jan. 24.

While the opening of the shop is news, perhaps even bigger news is just who is operating the business: Barnstable High School graduates and interns.

The idea for BHS students to run the shop came from Career Academies advisor Mary Lyons.

“I’m afraid that I think it was me,” she joked. “Lynne Poyant asked me if I could do something through the internship. Then the people who were looking at running it as a business decided not to open it. I thought, ‘Why don’t we run it?’ It just took off from there.”

Since September, Lyons has been meeting with a core group of BHS students, past and present, about getting the shop up and running. Lyons said the students have fully immersed themselves in learning the ropes.

“The kids have spent all this time really learning about how to even open up a business, and then a retail business,” Lyons said, adding that they’ve talked with bankers, rotary members and vendors regarding merchandise, finances and creating a business plan.

One of the most exciting aspects of the shop is that while it is an actual business, the student involvement allows for myriad learning opportunities.

“Everything is being done in a learning environment,” said Lyons. “They’re really taking control of it.”

To ensure the success of their new venture, the student group – Torey Mecley, Leah Pacheco, Ben Cohen, Brandon Eloy, Bryan Taylor, Will Fogarty, Andrew McAteer and BHS graduates Lauren Bell and Sharifa Derby – have been meeting regularly to determine what merchandise will be sold in the shop, hours of operation, and an effective layout.

Derby and Bell will also serve as the shop’s managers, having had experience in similar roles at Soft as a Grape.

Working in the shop will be student interns who will first take part in a customer service training program called Youth Employability Skills.

“It’s a nice program, very hands-on,” said Lyons. “The hope is that we will begin to place students out into other jobs, that these kids will start working in the store before moving out into the real world. The kids with experience will take part in the hiring of the next group.”

During the opening weekend, the new Barnstable High School logo will also be unveiled for the first time.

Logo designer Mecley explained that as the school moves in new directions, students felt it was time to create a new, more up-to-date logo.

“The kids felt that if it’s going to be a new store, we have to come out with something new,” said Lyons. “We have to be new all the way through. Just to do the Barnstable ‘B’ again wasn’t enough.”

While the new business won’t make a profit immediately, when it does, a portion of the funds will go toward paying for ice time for the Barnstable girls and boys ice hockey teams.

“It’s fun to be able to provide wholesale prices to other people, and people will know that the money will be going back into the community center,” Lyons said.

Although numerous folks have lent support to the endeavor, Lyons offers deep gratitude to Barnstable Supt. Dr. Patricia Grenier.

“I think without Patti Grenier’s support, and her enthusiasm, seeing the value of this for kids, and seeing the learning, we wouldn’t be doing this,” Lyons said. “Her excitement for the project is what really made it happen.”

At a meeting this week of those involved with the shop, Grenier expressed excitement about the impending opening, praising the entrepreneurial spirit of the students.

“We’ve got some real visions on this,” she said. “We understand that we have this huge challenge, but…anyone I speak to that hears it’s student-run, people take a different interest.”

Lyons is equally excited to see her kids in action.

“I’m just so proud of them,” she said. “They’ve come so far.”

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